(NewsNation) — In an effort to appeal to a key constituency, Vice President Kamala Harris‘ campaign is focusing a lot of outreach on Black men this week.
The Democratic presidential candidate unveiled new policy proposals, met with groups of Black men in each of the cities she’s visited, and sat down with media that has predominantly Black audiences, including Tuesday’s interview with the popular radio host Charlamagne tha God. It’s part of a significant push to show that she is listening and responding to these voters.
Earlier this week, Harris released her plans specifically for Black men. Her campaign says this is part of her Opportunity Agenda.
Harris believes the policy proposals will help equip Black men with “the tools to achieve financial freedom, lower costs to better provide for themselves and their families and protect their rights.”
On the economic front, Harris intends to provide one million loans that would be fully forgivable of up to $20,000 to Black entrepreneurs. Her campaign explained that this is designed to help those who don’t necessarily have the resources to start a business or are located in underserved communities. They said the loans will be provided through a new partnership between the Small Business Administration and some lenders and banks, particularly those with a commitment to their communities.
She also wants to expand access to affordable banking options to help those who she says are “locked out of the banking system — and the wealth building that comes with it — because of high fees to save, invest, and build credit.”
In a particularly targeted move, Harris wants to provide support for Black farmers and ranchers who are financially stressed and don’t have access to capital due to discriminatory reasons. The financial support is designed to help them stay competitive as they grow their farms and ranches. She met with a group of North Carolina Black farmers Monday before her rally in Greenville, N.C.
Finally, Harris hopes to create regulations around cryptocurrency and other digital assets to ensure that those who participate in that market are protected.
Jobs and mentorship programs also feature heavily in her plans. She wants to invest further in community mentorship programs that focus on helping young Black men succeed. She hopes to double the number of apprenticeships in the country so more people can gain access to high-paying jobs. She wants to create a pipeline of Black male teachers in partnership with the Department of Education, the circular benefits of which would create more jobs while improving the educational outcomes of Black students.
On health care, the Harris administration plans to launch a National Health Equity Initiative that would focus on diabetes, sickle cell disease and prostate cancer, which disproportionately affect Black men. She also wants to expand access to mental health and substance abuse treatments.
Harris has previously stated her commitment to legalizing recreational marijuana and she reiterated that commitment in this policy proposal while adding that she also wants to ensure Black men can obtain jobs and wealth in what would be a newly legal industry.
The Harris campaign’s focus on Black men comes as a Cook Political Report shows that their polling average among Black voters, has Harris with 80% support among Black voters to Trump’s 15%. That is not quite at the level of support that President Biden achieved in 2020. At that time, he received 87% of the vote to Trump’s 12%. However, Harris’ support has jumped nine points since she joined the race and is hoping to keep trending upwards.
In her interview with Charlamagne, Harris acknowledged how close the race is, saying, “This is a margin of error race. It’s tight. I’m going to win. I’m going to win, but it’s tight.” Later on Tuesday, clips from an interview with rappers Fat Joe and Too Short were featured at the 2024 BET Awards. This came on the heels of her interviews Monday with journalist Roland Martin, who owns his own media company, and Justin Carter of The Shade Room.
This week, Harris also met with groups of Black men, including community leaders and entrepreneurs, in Raleigh, Greenville, Erie, and Detroit. Oftentimes, the meetings took place at Black-owned businesses.
In addition to the new policy, this week in particular, Harris has been meeting Black men in person and sitting down for interviews with media with predominantly Black audiences.
NewsNation reached out to Donald Trump’s campaign and requested any policy he has for Black men. None was provided. However, his campaign pointed to the bipartisan passage and creation of Opportunity Zones under his presidency. In August of 2020, his administration said these zones had the potential to lift a million people out of poverty. However, the program has received bipartisan criticism over the allocation of funds, with some believing the primary beneficiaries of these zones were real estate investors and not underserved communities as intended.
Trump’s campaign also touts his signing of the bipartisan First Step Act which was focused on criminal justice reform. The bill helped promote rehabilitation and reduce recidivism in prisons as well as reducing excessive sentences in the federal prison system. The bill was in response to harsh criminal justice policies that disproportionately impacted people of color and Black Americans in particular.
Trump has been trying to make the argument that his policies are better than Harris’ for Black Americans. Janiyah Thomas, Team Trump Black Media Director, said in a statement that “Kamala Harris is making a last-minute attempt to win over Black men after years of failure. For four years, Black men and their communities have suffered under Kamala’s economy and unchecked illegal immigration, while Democrats funneled billions to Ukraine.”
Election Day is just 21 days away and early voting is already underway in many states, including the swing states of Georgia and Arizona, with more starting to vote in the coming days.
